The Princess and The Cheri Berry
by zeaeevee
Summary: Inspired by the short story of 'The Princess and The Pea'. need i say more? one-shot. aamayl, ashmay advanceshipping.


This story is based off the story of 'The Princess and the Pea'

**This fanfic is based off the story of 'The Princess and the Pea'. If you don't know this story, what happened to your childhood; I don't know. The idea came to me while I was flipping channels looking for something interesting to watch on TV when I came across a weird looking movie on Disney Channel. So I stopped to watch it to see what it was, and it turned to be a weird version of the story of 'The Princess and the Pea', and the idea just came to me just like that. (Really… the version was just weird; beyond stupidity the way it was cast.)**

**Anyway, enough jibber jabber from me; on with the story. Please review after reading. It's also a one-shot. **

**Ages: **

**Ash – 18**

**May – 17**

**Misty – 19**

**Dawn – 16**

**The characters are a bit OC. Mostly Ash anyway. Enjoy!**

**I DO NOT own pokémon.**

**--**

**The Princess and the Cheri Berry**

In the kingdom of Pallet, there lived a prince named Ash Ketchum, along with his loyal and most trustful pokémon, Pikachu. A yellow electric mouse with red cheeks, long ears with black at the ends, brown strips across its back and a lighting bolt shaped tail with brown coming from the root to about halfway of its tail.

"Pikachu,"

Ash was now 18 years old; legal age to be wedded. But in order for that to happen, he needed to find a true princess. So his parents, the King and Queen sent out invites to all the princesses they knew who were around Ash's age, to their kingdom.

The next day when the princesses arrived at the palace, they were lead to the ballroom by the palace guards and were all graciously greeted by the King and Queen. Ash was in his room with Pikachu, getting ready to meet the princesses and find the one that was right for him; a **true** princess.

"I'm not sure if I'm ready for this Pikachu." Ash said to Pikachu, as he put on the jacket of his suit, placing a white rose in the top pocket of the jacket.

"Pika pikachu pikapi, (You're not the only one Ash,)" Pikachu replied, as he sat on bed he shared with his prince.

Ash sighed. "I knew from the time I turned 18 this had to happen, but I didn't think it would come so soon. I'm not sure if I'll even like any of them,"

"Pika pika, pikachu pi pika, (I know Ash. But I hope which ever one ends up being a **true **princess, that she is pretty enough for you to like her. And I hope her partner will be one I'll be able to matchup with too,)"

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Ash said.

As soon the knocker got the ok, the door opened to reveal his mother, Queen Delia.

"Hi mom," he said upon seeing his mother.

"Aww, look at my Ashy." She squealed. "Don't you look handsome,"

"Mom…" Ash whined, "You're embarrassing me."

"I can't believe my son is finally going to have someone to spend the rest of his life with." Delia continued.

"Mom, stop it." Ash cried out. "Besides… I don't even know if I'll like any of them,"

"Don't be silly dear. You're bound to like one of them." She continued, "Let's just hope she ends up being a true princess,"

Ash sighed.

"And I hope her partner is a good match for Pikachu too," she added.

"Pi ka…" Pikachu whined.

"Anyway, its time for you to came to the ballroom dear. All our invited guests are waiting. You're the only one missing." She informed the prince, "So don't take too long,"

And with that, she left the young prince's room to join up with her husband in the ballroom.

Ash sighed again. "Well Pikachu; guess its time,"

"Pika." Pikachu nodded hopping onto his prince's left shoulder, as he turned and left the room.

--

The princesses were all lined up from left to right across the ballroom, facing the King and Queen as they all waited for the prince to show up. A few of the princesses began conversing with each other and saying how cute they heard the prince was and that they would be the ones to marry him. All were making a fuss about the prince; all except one.

She is Princess May, from Petalburg kingdom. Unlike the other princesses, May kinda kept to herself while at Pallet kingdom; with the exception of her partner, Eevee. She was just like Ash; she wasn't ready to get married, let alone be invited to a palace that's trying to find a princess for their prince.

May sighed. "I don't know what all the princesses are fussing about Eevee. I mean… he's a prince like any other prince; what's the big deal?"

"Eevee eev eev eevee, (I don't know. But remember you're not the only one in this; I am too,)" Eevee replied.

"Yea, well… I still don't see what the big deal is," she added, until she turned stiff when she felt that she was being watched the wrong way. She looked to the other princesses to see that they were all glaring at her for what she said. Apparently they had taken it quite personal.

May gulped. "Sorry…" she said right after receiving the death glares from the other princess. They soon turned around and started conversing with each other again. May gave a sigh of relief.

"Guess it really is a big deal," she said shortly after.

"Vee…" Eevee replied.

--

"Can I please have your attention ladies," Queen Delia finally announced, getting full attention from the conversing princesses. "I now present to you my son; Prince Ash."

As soon he was announced, Ash stepped out from one of the side doors and approached his parents. Once there, he turned to face the princesses and bowed politely towards them and greeted them.

"Good day ladies. It's a pleasure to meet you all," he said as Pikachu hopped off his shoulder, doing and saying the same thing his prince had; in pokémon language of course.

"The pleasure is all ours Prince Ash," the princesses replied in unison, as they all curtsied towards the prince. A few were giggling and a few were going all gaga over him.

Ash scanned the line of princesses from right to left, not one did he see that he would supposedly like, and their partners weren't exactly a match for Pikachu either. That was, until his eyes met the last princess. The one to the far left. He stopped and gazed at her for the longest while, as a blush came upon his face. Pikachu seemed to have the same taste as his prince since he too was looking at the princess, but was more focused on her pokémon partner.

Pikachu stopped gazing and hopped onto his prince's shoulder, snapping him out of his trance.

"Pika pika, Pikachu, (Looks like we were wrong,)" Pikachu said to his prince.

"Yea I guess so," Ash replied, not completely taking his gaze off that particular princess.

His mother noticed this and a smile came upon her face. _"And he said he wouldn't like any of them,"_

"Ok ladies, I would like you to one by one step forward and introduce yourselves to the prince." The king announced.

May was first. She and Eevee took one step forward and introduced themselves.

"Greetings, Prince Ash." She began, curtsying politely to him. "I am Princess May, from Petalburg kingdom, and this is my pokémon partner Eevee," Eevee bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you,"

May wore a strapless red gown, which was decorated with red roses round the bottom lining of the gown. She wore a ruby necklace and tiara. Eevee had a red bow tied at the root of her right ear. When they were done introducing themselves, they took a step back to join the line of princesses and their pokémon.

"The pleasure is all mine," Ash replied. _"May huh? Ok,"_

The next princess came forward.

"Greetings, Prince Ash." She began, "I am Princess Misty from Cerulean kingdom. And this is my pokémon partner Azuril."

"Azuril," the pokémon chimed, hopping on its ball-shaped tail.

Ash replied with the same thing he said to May, and Princess Misty did as May did to join back into the line. Misty wore a very simple orange gown. She also had a golden tiara on her head.

Next princess…

"Salutations, Prince Ash," her greeting was so full of energy. "I'm Princess Dawn, from the kingdom of Twinleaf. It's a great honor to meet you. And this is my partner Buneary."

"Buneary!" the bunny pokémon cried out with hearts in its eyes as it gazed at Pikachu and quickly made a dash towards him.

"Ah! Buneary come back!" Dawn called out to her pokémon, but it didn't listen.

"Ee? Eevee!" Eevee cried out running towards Buneary.

"Eevee…" May called out to her Eevee.

Everyone in the room was shocked at what the bunny pokémon just did. Just when it was halfway between the prince and the line of princesses, Eevee made it just in time in front of Buneary.

"Eevee! (Hold it!)" Eevee exclaimed as she got in Buneary's path.

Buneary hopped to the left to try to escape from Eevee, but Eevee just cut her off again. She tried going right and Eevee still stopped her.

"Buneary bun bun neary, (What are you doing getting in the way of me and my future love,)" Buneary cried out.

"Eevee vee eev eve eeevee, (After what you just did, chances of your princess being with the prince just became quite slim,)"

"Bun? Buneary… (Huh? I wasn't trying to…)"

"Eevee eev. Eev Eevee vee. (Well you did. Now let's get back to our princesses before we get into more trouble.)"

"Neary… (Ok,)" Buneary sadly replied as she turned around and started hopping towards her princess and Eevee went to hers.

When Buneary arrived near Dawn, she picked her up and scolded her.

"Buneary that was a terrible thing you did." Princess Dawn said to her pokémon partner.

"Buneary…" she replied as she drooped her eyes down, ashamed by her behavior.

"I'm really sorry. What Buneary did is unforgivable. It won't happen again." She said to the Pallet royal family.

"It's ok," the queen replied.

"And see that it doesn't happen again," the king added.

After that, Dawn took a step back to join the line of princesses. She wore a pink gown with white heart patterns around the waist. She also wore a silver necklace and tiara.

"That was a really good deed you did Eevee," May said as Eevee came up and sat next to her, "I'm really proud of you,"

"Eevee!" she replied with a cheery smile towards her princess.

"As for you Princess May,"

"Huh?/Vee?" May and Eevee turned towards the king upon hearing his voice.

"That was a truly impressive thing your Eevee did there," he said, smiling towards them, "Remind me to thank her later,"

"Yes your majesty," May replied, curtsying.

"Now lets continue with the introductions." He added.

There were quite a few princesses to go after Dawn, and it took about an hour and a half for all of them to be introduced.

--

**(Skipping ahead to night time)**

"You girls all filled up and ready for bed?" the queen asked the princesses. They were in a huge room, one big enough to accommodate all the princesses. The beds were stacked ten mattresses high. But unknown to the princess, that there is a cheri berry at the bottom of the pile of mattresses of each bed.

"Why do we have to sleep on so many mattresses?" one of the princesses asked at the top of her bed.

"It's to find out which one of you is worthy of marrying my son," Queen Delia replied. Ash was standing in the doorway, watching the princesses make themselves comfortable for bed. His gaze once again landed on Princess May, who didn't seem to be quite comfortable with her sleeping arrangement. Her Eevee seemed to have a little problem with it too.

"Goodnight Prince Ash!" the princesses called out to him, snapping him out of his trance.

"Oh. Goodnight, princesses," he replied as his mother slowly closed the door behind her as she excited the room, gently pushing Ash out of the way.

He sighed and head to his room, with Pikachu on his shoulder. When he got there, Pikachu hopped from his shoulder onto the bed. He changed into his pajamas and dropped himself on his bed. Then suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," he said.

The door opened to once again reveal his mother, Queen Delia. She had a huge grin on her face as she entered the room.

"Mom… I don't like that look on your face,"

She sat on the bed next to him and gave him a big hug, and let go of him when she heard him try to say something about not breathing.

"My little prince is all grown up and in love," she finally said.

"LOVE?!" Ash nearly fell off the bed. "W-what are you talking about mom?"

"Don't think I didn't see it. You've had your eyes on the Petalburg princess whole day."

Ash sighed. There was no point in hiding it, since he was going find out the next day which was a true princess and his future wife.

"I guess so." He admitted. "There's just something about her mom, that just… ugh I don't even know how to explain it."

"That's ok dear." She replied. "That's how love works. You love someone, yet you can never describe what or why you love them. You just do."

"And it seems that you and Pikachu have the same mind." She said looking towards Pikachu. "He couldn't stop gazing at her Eevee. He didn't even give the princess with the Pikachu a second look."

"That's because that Pikachu is a male Pikachu. Definitely not a match for Pikachu; they would probably end up fighting each other all the time." Ash clarified.

"Oh." Delia replied, getting up from her son's bed, walking towards the door. "Well let's just hope the one you've got your eye on ends up being **the one.** Now get some sleep dear; you've got a big day ahead of you." And with that, she left closing the door behind her.

Ash lay down on his bed and turned to face Pikachu, who was blushing from the queen's observation.

"There's just something about her, Pikachu," Ash said to his pokémon partner. "Yes, she's beautiful; but there's… something else. I just don't know what."

"Pika pika Pikachu, (I know what you mean Ash.)" Pikachu replied.

Ash sighed again. "I just hope that she's the one." He said, looking up at the ceiling until sleep finally came to him. Pikachu curled up on the pillow next to him.

--

May twisted and turned all over on her bed. For some reason she just couldn't sleep. Eevee too was twisting and turning on the bed, for she too like her princess, couldn't sleep.

"This bed is just too uncomfortable Eevee." She said to her Eevee.

"Eevee, (You're telling me,)"

"I wonder what the queen meant when she said these high beds were to find which one of us is worthy of marrying her son," May pondered.

"I'll have to admit, he is kinda cute," she said, as a light blush appeared on her face. She gasped when she realized it. "Oh Mew, am I falling in love with him?"

"Eevee eevee Eevee vee, (I can't argue with you there. His Pikachu is pretty cute,)" Eevee replied, also blushing.

"Eevee!" May said to her partner, shocked by her response,

"Eevee Eevee vee evv, (What can I say. When love hits ya, it hits ya,)"

May pondered on this for a while. "I guess you're right. No use hiding it. I now see why all the other princesses were making a fuss over him."

May twisted again, trying to find a position for her to sleep, but just couldn't.

"Ugh! I can't sleep." She said leaning slightly over the side of the bed. "It's like, there's something under the pile of mattresses."

"Eevee,"

"Let's at least try to get some kind of sleep Eevee. We'll clear this out with the queen tomorrow."

"Eevee," Eevee nodded in response.

--

The next day, everyone assemble in the ballroom. The princesses were all eager to find out which one of them was worthy enough to be wedded to the prince. They all seemed well rested and full of energy. The king and queen immediately notice this and realized that none of the princesses were worthy enough to marry their son. None was a true princess; well… that was because one princess had not arrived yet.

When she finally came in, a smile came upon their faces, for the late princess looked like she wasn't at all well rested. Her pokémon partner was sleeping in her arms. Ash's heart almost skipped a beat when she entered as his face soon turned red, but he quickly shook it off so that it wouldn't get noticed by the other princesses.

When she joined the line of princesses, she woke her Eevee and placed her on the floor beside her. Eevee did a yawn and looked towards the king and queen with tired looking eyes, just like her princess.

"Ok. Now that you are all together, its time to find out which one of you, is worthy enough to marry my son," the king announced.

"I trust that you all slept well last night," Queen Delia asked the princesses.

They all replied saying that they slept well in many ways like; "Oh yes," "I was quite comfortable," etc.

"I didn't sleep at all last night," May answered. "It felt like there was something under the mattresses, and it made it quite difficult for Eevee and I to get any sleep at all,"

Sure enough, when they looked towards Eevee, she was seen swaying forward, catching herself every couple of times, trying to stay awake.

The king and queen smiled. The prince had the biggest smile of all.

"And do you by any chance have an idea of what it could have been?" the queen asked.

"Well… judging by the size, I'd say it was a Cheri Berry," May confirmed.

"Well done Princess May," The queen congratulated her, "You are a True Princess,"

"What?!" May and all the other princesses exclaimed, surprised at what they had heard.

"Excuse me?" May asked.

"I'm sorry everyone. But the reason we had you all sleep on beds with so many mattresses, was to test you." The queen started to explain. "We planted a Cheri berry, the smallest berry known, at the bottom of the bed under the first mattress and piled them up with nine more to cover the feel of it. And only a true princess would have been able to tell of it through all that. A true princess has very sensitive skin and will not accept anything, but the finest and most comfortable of beds."

All the while the queen was explaining to the princesses, Prince Ash had made his way towards Princess May with a smile on his face. When he got to her, he took hold of her right hand and kissed it. May blushed at the gesture. Pikachu, who had made his way towards Eevee, did the same as his prince. She too blushed.

"And since all of you slept quite well, I'm sorry to say that you were not 'true princess' material; therefore, you were not worthy enough to marry our son." The queen finished.

All the other princesses were upset. After the queen had finished her explanation, they all burst into tears. The queen apologized to the princesses and kindly asked them to return to their respective kingdoms. They obeyed and quickly left the palace.

Prince Ash and Princess May were still standing in the spot where May was standing in the line of princesses.

"So, May dear," the queen started, "What do you say to marrying my son?"

"I don't… think now is… the time to… answer that," she replied, slowly closing her eyes.

"And why is that dear?" the queen asked. But before she could get an answer, May had collapsed in the prince's arms. He, of course, caught her. Eevee had also collapsed, and Pikachu caught her as well.

The king and queen quickly ran towards them, when they noticed the princess fall into the prince's arms.

"The poor dear's exhausted." The queen said when she saw May sleeping in Ash's arms, and Eevee in Pikachu's. The queen smiled.

"Well son," she started, "The one you had you eye on turn out to be 'the one',"

"Yea… she did," Ash replied, not taking his eyes off the sleeping princess in his arms.

"You've got good eyes, son," the king praised his son.

"Thanks dad," he replied, looking up at his father.

"Let's take her to the room we had prepared for her." The queen suggested, picking up Eevee from Pikachu. Ash nodded and picked up the princess, carrying her bridal style.

"Careful son," the queen warned him, "She seems quite delicate."

"She's like a delicate little flower," the king added.

"Yea," Ash nodded, gazing upon the sleeping princess "And she's **my** delicate little flower,"

The king and queen smiled at their son, as he began walking, heading towards the room they had set up for the princess which would have been the one. The queen and Pikachu followed closely behind him. The king had gone back to his throne, to attend to a messenger that had just come in.

When they got to the room, Ash gently laid May on the bed, to which she subconsciously made herself comfortable shortly after, as a smile came upon her face. Delia then laid Eevee next to May, and she too subconsciously made herself comfortable.

Ash, Delia and Pikachu smiled at the two. Delia soon left the room, leaving the two alone with the sleeping princess and her pokémon partner. The prince sat at the edge of the side of the bed the princess was closest too, while Pikachu hopped on the bed to side Eevee was.

Ash reached out to her face, removing a few strands of her brown hair and tucking it behind her ear. He leaned down and gave her sweet, soft kiss on the cheek. Pikachu did the same by giving Eevee a small lick on the cheek. When the prince sat up again, he leaned back towards her ear and whispered,

"Sweet dreams my love. Sleep well,"

When he got up, he noticed that the small smile she had on her lips had gotten slightly wider. Ash smiled and leaned in to kiss her one last time before leaving the room, with Pikachu on his shoulder.

And to think, this all happened, because of a little 'Cheri Berry'.

**The End.**

--

**Well… what did you guys think? Just an idea inspired by the story, 'The Princess and The Pea'; but I said that already, so all you gotta do is review to let me know what you think.**


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